“Can you tell me what is coming?”
“There is going to be a fight over the human race, Mia. For too long, entities, much stronger than I, have played their games with the bipeds. Alliances have been formed. War is not far away.”
“Why do you and Angelo want me so badly? Are the two of you on opposite sides?”
“No, why would you think that? Birdmen and angels have always fought together. He and I see in you a warrior who we would be proud to fight beside. He may want something more from you. I don’t know his mind. He and I are not friends, Mia. We have the same vices the humans have. Jealousy is one of them.”
“Thank you, Sariel. You have eased my mind and body,” Mia said.
“Take care, Mia. You have much to learn and many dangers to face,” he said.
Mia reached out her hand.
Sariel, although amused, shook it before he disappeared.
Mia felt a jolt as the gondola moved past the last tower. She turned her gaze downward, afraid to look into the sun for what she may see there.
~
“You could have at least tried it,” Mia said as they climbed the hill. Her thighs were burning.
“Too much space,” Murphy said. “Falling, always falling.”
“I talked to Sariel, and he explained what happened to me. ‘Incidental contact’ is how he explained it. He helped me to release the pent-up emotions.”
“Exactly how did he… Did you and he?”
“For cripes’ sake!” Mia shouted. “I’m not the Whore of Babylon. I can keep my pants on, Stephen Murphy. Honestly,” she said, fuming. “That is the last time I share something so sensitive and personal with you, effing farmer.”
Murphy winced. He figured he deserved that, but he had to ask. He had reconciled himself to sharing Mia with Ted, but there was no way he was going to let any of the flyboys take her as their lover. He would take her from this earth himself before he’d let her corrupt herself that way.
“You’re pretty quiet,” Mia observed.
“Saving energy.”
“Did you get a chance to visit Chastity’s grave?”
“Yes. It’s a nice place, tended by a young priest named Joseph.”
Mia sensed something else happened, but she would give Murphy privacy. She concentrated on moving upward towards the hotel.
Murphy felt there was something different about Mia. She seemed to be more accepting and less tense. Her jaw was no longer clenched and her hands didn’t automatically form into fists. He had mistaken this as satiation. Mia exhibited this behavior after being with her husband.
Mia looked over at the ghost and swore she saw him blush. She wanted so to ask him, but also, part of her didn’t want to know, so she let it go.
“Did Sariel touch you, Mia?”
“Not that I was aware,” she said honestly. “I fell asleep.”
Murphy turned sharply, dropped his axe and put a hand on either shoulder. “Fell asleep?”
“Yes. I was standing, looking into his eyes, and then I forced myself to close them. When I opened them again, I was still staring at him, except… I was sitting down. I didn’t think much about it. I wasn’t violated in any way. Honestly, you’ve got to have more faith in me.”
“Sorry,” he said, dropping his hands. “Mia, I have confused you with Chastity. I’m sorry.”
Mia moved her hand to his face. “If I could take that hurt from you, I would. If I could change the past, I would. But we are here, standing just inside each other’s dimension, drawn to each other, but knowing that it isn’t right. The old Mia would have spat on the rules of Father Santos and would have gladly joined with you, but I’m not that Mia anymore. I chose a human male to be my husband. A living, breathing man who gave me a child. I love him, Murphy. He’s not perfect, and neither am I. You have to either accept my choice or I will have to take my family and leave the farm.”
Stephen’s hurt bore into her, tearing her peace apart. The old Mia would have cried and pleaded for him to stop. Instead, she took a deep breath and reassembled her peace. She saw him for what he was, a man spurned again in love. She could not help him without debasing herself. She dropped her hand and turned away.
“Is it so horrible that I love you?” he asked. “Am I so repulsive that you’d leave me? I have saved you, Mia. I could have let you die.”
Mia turned and said, “Come into my body and answer your own question.” She pulled off both of her gloves and gripped the ghost and pulled him into her.
Murphy tried to resist, but she was too strong. He found himself inside of her, experiencing every moment of her life at once. He knew the temptation she fought every time she sensed him near. He saw the fear of losing him to the Dark World and understood her anger at him for tempting her to break her vows. He saw, over and over, her unanswered prayers: “Please God, I want a normal life. I want to live and be loved.” He drew in her strength, ready to break free of her, when he saw the feather. It was there, glowing in the darkness. He reached out and grasped it. A hundred visions of past Earthly battles flew into his mind. He saw the darkness approaching and the living populace of the earth cringing while the heavens were filled with more fighting. A battle for them.
He let go of the feather and moved along her ribs that Sariel had protected. He touched the etching of the ancient words the
